In the cable television industry there are at least two types of organizations capable of selling advertisement space. One is a programming network (e.g., NBC, ABC, CBS, TBS, etc.) and the other is the local cable service provider (e.g., Comcast, Time Warner, etc.). Some service providers fall somewhere between the two, generally referred to as Multiple System/Service Operators (MSO—a cable TV organization that owns more than one cable system and may prove broadband Internet service). Programming networks sell advertising space that may appear in every market (i.e., nationally or regionally) regardless of the identity of the cable operator or MSO.
An MSO may sell advertisement space directed to local or regional businesses, and can target or swap out national advertisements for local or regional market ads. In addition, MSOs own or can locate individual subscriber set top boxes, and can target local advertisements for all subscribers in a region, town, or down to a specific subscriber. Advertisements targeted to particular intended audiences are made possible when the MSO gains access to personal identifiable information (PII) about their subscribers, made available within set top boxes or via the Internet. PII may include the location of a set top box including its hardware MAC address, marketing information, such as which programs and commercials have been viewed, and direct subscriber personal information such as a subscriber's name, home address, subscription or order history, and credit score.
This information is private yet valuable to advertisers, both MSOs and national networks included. A national network may approach an MSO to swap in and out Video-On-Demand (VOD) advertisements using an MSO's dynamic advertisement insertion capabilities and may obtain PII data in order to enhance revenues. The MSO, in turn, can charge a premium to the national network for PII.
There are at least two barriers generally preventing an MSO from revealing PII: one legal and the other monetary. Legally, an MSO cannot reveal PII that can identify a specific individual. Commercially, a national network that gains access to a local or regional market provides may threaten the MSO's own local media business. An MSO may not want to give away local or regional information because the MSO does not want to have a national network, with its wide-ranging resources, competing with their local media sales. For example, if a network obtains information about subscribers in the New York metropolitan area, then the national network may begin selling ads for a premium to companies that are only in the New York metropolitan area, which a local advertiser may not be able to afford. However, it may be possible for an MSO to satisfy all parties, both legally and commercially, by purging certain PII that identifies an individual subscriber or other local or regional market information but still provide certain national-level statistical demographic information, e.g., the number of people who are male or have a certain income level.
Accordingly, what would be desirable, but has not yet been provided, is a method and system for filtering personal identifiable or regional information about cable subscribers while providing certain statistical information to national networks.